BBQ chicken thighs grilled with indirect high heat for a crispy skin, then brushed with a few layers of BBQ sauce. Easy and tasty!
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TKJUMPTO
Join us on the dark side. We have cookies!
I know the power of the dark side…of the chicken. Now, look on in despair as I use that power to annoy the barbecue purists! Ha! Haha! Hahahahaha! Ha..ahem. Sorry.
I'm cooking dark meat chicken thighs high and hot, not low and slow. I love how chicken shreds when I cook it low and slow, but the skin is flabby and chewy. The skin is the first thing I throw away when I make low-and-slow pulled chicken.
That's a tragedy. Browned, crackling chicken skin is my favorite part of the bird - almost more than the dark meat - and I don't want to toss it aside. High-heat roasting on the grill gives me the crisp skin I love. (It's also much faster - only 45 minutes of cooking, instead of the two hours needed for low and slow chicken.)
Now, I've gone on and on about the benefits of homemade barbecue rub and barbecue sauce, but don't let that stop you from trying this recipe. Good store-bought rubs and sauces work just fine. But, if you find yourself at the store every other weekend in the summer, buying another bottle of sauce or jar of rub, try making a big batch of your own. You'll be amazed how easy it is to do.
Ingredient Notes and substitutions
- Barbecue rub: This recipe uses my 2 tablespoons of salt and ¼ cup of my homemade barbecue rub. I usually make a big batch of rub at the start of the grilling season, so it is ready whenever I need it. There are a lot of good store-bought barbecue rubs available nowadays; if you don't want to make your own, go ahead and buy your favorite.
- Barbecue sauce: Again, this recipe recommends my easy homemade barbecue sauce, but you can also use a store-bought sauce.
- Chicken breasts, drumsticks, wings: This recipe will work with any bone-in chicken pieces. You can use whole, cut-up chicken, bone-in chicken breasts, or drumsticks. If you're cooking breasts, start saucing the chicken when the breasts reach 155°F internal (instead of the 175°F internal temp on the chicken thighs) because breasts will overcook. The thighs should cook enough by the time the (larger) chicken breasts are cooked through.
Equipment
Tools
- A grill that can be set up for indirect heat. Any charcoal grill, like my Weber Kettle, will work. Or, a gas grill, as long as it has more than one burner, so it can be set up with a direct heat side and an indirect heat side. (Charcoal grills are better for smoking wood - the smoke escapes from a gas grill too quickly, so the smoke flavor is weak on a gas grill.)
- 2 fist-sized chunks of smoking wood (for a charcoal grill) or 2 cups of soaked wood chips (for charcoal or gas grills).
- Drip pan (I use the Weber extra-large pans that fit perfectly between the charcoal baskets)
- Probe thermometer (Like my Thermoworks ChefAlarm. Makes it easy to check the temperature without opening the lid, and the temperature alarm will let you know exactly when the chicken is done.)
- Basting brush (I prefer silicone brushes)
Tips and tricks
Why cook chicken thighs over indirect high heat?
Chicken thighs have a lot of fat under their skin, which we want to render out to crisp up the skin. The problem with direct heat is that fat drips into the coals and causes flareups and grease fires. If you have ever had BBQ chicken where the outside is burnt, and the inside is still blood red near the bone, this is why - chicken cooked over direct heat wants to burn.
Indirect high heat solves this problem. The fat is dripping into a drip pan, not the coals, so there are no flareups. The high heat gives me browned, crisp chicken skin, but it is not too hot, so the chicken will cook through before it burns. Indirect heat gives me perfect chicken every time, with almost no effort.
How long does it take to BBQ chicken thighs?
It takes 45 minutes to BBQ chicken thighs with indirect high heat (about 450°F on the grill). That said, chicken thighs are almost impossible to overcook. I check them with an instant-read thermometer, and 175°F is my minimum temperature for "done." 185°F is better, 195°F is OK, and they're fine up to 205°F. Once they reach 175°F, I worry more about glazing them without burning the sauce than I do the internal temperature of the chicken.
Print
Grilled BBQ Chicken Thighs
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
BBQ chicken thighs recipe. Chicken thighs with a spice rub and glazed with BBQ sauce, grilled with indirect high heat.
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs (about 3 pounds)
Barbecue Rub
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
Serve with
- Barbecue sauce (Store-bought, or make my easy homemade bbq sauce recipe, or my espresso BBQ )
Instructions
- BBQ Rub the chicken thighs: Mix the barbecue rub ingredients in a small bowl until completely combined. Sprinkle a heavy coat of the barbecue rub over the chicken thighs. Gently pat the rub to help it stick, and work it into any natural seams in the meat. (Don't vigorously "rub" the chicken, or most of the spices will wind up on your fingers.)
- Set the grill up for indirect high heat (450°F): Set the grill up for indirect high heat, 450°F, with a drip pan in the middle of the grill and the fire on the sides.
In my kettle grill, I light a chimney starter full of coals; when the coals are lit and covered with gray ash, I pour them into two piles on the sides of the grill, with the drip pan in the middle. (If your grill comes with charcoal baskets, use them to keep the piles together.)
In my gas grill, I preheat with all burners turned to high for 10 minutes, then I turn off my middle burners, set the drip pan under the grate, and leave the outside burners on high. (I have a 6 burner gas grill, so I turn off the middle two burners, leaving burners 1, 2, 5, and 6 on. Adjust this as needed for your grill and burner configuration) - Add the smoking wood: Brush the grill grate clean. If cooking over charcoal, add the smoking wood to the coals. If cooking on a gas grill, wrap the wood chips in foil to make a pouch, poke a few holes in the pouch, and put the foil pouch under the grill grate, directly on the burner cover over a lit burner.)
- Cook the chicken over indirect heat for about 45 minutes, brushing with sauce for the last 15 minutes: Put the chicken thighs on the grill grate over the drip pan in the indirect heat section and close the lid. Cook the chicken with the lid closed as much as possible until the skin is browned and the chicken has an internal temperature of at least 175°F, about 30 minutes. Brush the chicken with a layer of sauce, close the lid, and cook for another five minutes. Brush the chicken with a second layer of sauce, close the lid, and cook for 5 more minutes. Brush the lid with a third (and final) layer of sauce, close the lid, and cook for 5 more minutes. (About 45 minutes total, brushing with sauce during the last 15 minutes).
- Serve and enjoy: Move the chicken to a platter and serve, passing any extra BBQ sauce at the table. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Grilling
- Cuisine: American
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Step-By-Step pictures of grilled chicken thighs
Chicken on the grill with smoking wood chips...
The wood chips caught fire immediately after I added them to the grill...
...over indirect heat
This is what cooking indirect gives you - coals on the side, perfectly cooked chicken in the middle, with no grease fires!
Brush with sauce for the last 15 minutes
I only add sauce during the last 15 minutes of cooking, because the sugar in the sauce will burn if it's in the heat of the grill for too long.
Serve and enjoy!
Ready to serve. The sauce has tightened up and the chicken is ready to eat.
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
As I mentioned in the recipe card, you can use my Espresso Chipotle BBQ Sauce or Easy BBQ Sauce with this recipe. Also, here's a link to the details of my Homemade Rub. I like to serve this recipe with my Instant Pot Potato Salad. If you're looking for boneless thighs, check out my Grilled Boneless Chicken Thighs recipe.
For some other types of grilled chicken, try my Grilled Boneless Chicken Breasts or Grilled Butterflied Chicken.
Looking for more recipes? Check out my Grilling Recipes list.
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Margaret says
This recipe is fantastic. I've made it twice now and look forward to making it again. It's a family hit! Easy to make, excellent flavour and love the homemade easy BBQ sauce to go with it. Definitely worth a try.
Stephen says
Here's a cool new trick I tried tonight. After the cooking is done let them rest and cool a little so you can handle them easy enough. Then, remove the bone from the meat without disturbing the crispy bark that you've created.
Joshua K says
Are these bone in or boneless chicken thighs?
Mike V says
Bone-in.
Chris L says
Just curious, why use a drip pan?
Mike V says
Chicken thighs have a lot of fat in them; if I don't use a drip pan I have a grease fire the next time I use the grill.
Matt Heinz says
Made this tonight. Really good! My wife thought it was a bit too salty, so I might cut back on the kosher salt next time. Used a Stubbs BBQ sauce and it was fine.